Document for a Medal for Valor during a Fire, awarded on
31 October 1972 to Yury Saenko.

Document for a Medal for Valor during a Fire, awarded on
31 October 1972 to Yury Saenko.

This is a very uncommon certificate specially designed to
be issued by the military. The vast majority of the
Firefighter Medal documents were bestowed by either the
Interior Ministry departments - to which all fire
departments in the USSR subordinated - or Supreme Soviets
of various Soviet Republics. The issuing authority is
typographically printed at the bottom: "Commander of the
Troops of ? Military District". The name of the district,
"Moskovskiy", is hand-written, and so are the name and
rank of its commander, Col. General V(ladimir) Govorov.
Facsimile signature of Govorov is to the right.
Interestingly, he was appointed to command the Moscow
District in June 1972, shortly before the issue date of
the certificate.